


A True Skywalker

by Phoebe_Snow



Series: A Force of Two [22]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Belonging, Cute, F/M, Family, Feels, Fix It, Fluff, Gen, Happy Ending, Headcanon Accepted, I Tried, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Light Angst, Long vignette, Love, Luke is a widower, Modern Era, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Spoilers, You're Welcome, and you haven’t seen TROS by now, but if you're on this site reading SW fanfics, you deserve to be spoiled
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:01:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22398988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phoebe_Snow/pseuds/Phoebe_Snow
Summary: After Ben's funeral, Luke has some important news for Rey.
Relationships: Finn/Rey, Rey & Luke Skywalker
Series: A Force of Two [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/781764
Comments: 10
Kudos: 28
Collections: Finnrey Fanfic Connection





	A True Skywalker

**Author's Note:**

> I just threw out the words in my head onto my notes and this is what came out. It's probably on the messy side, but that’s okay because I’ll take my mess over the mess that is TROS. This isn’t my usual fare of fanfic, but I think it’s an interesting story all the same. I hope you guys will enjoy it, too.

* * *

There weren’t many people who attended the funeral and that was understandable. Ben Solo had destroyed countless lives and although his immediate family had forgiven him his crimes, the rest of the world had not. If not for the car accident that caused his demise, Ben would’ve most certainly been executed.

He covered up many deaths that occurred among the employees and competitors of his company, First Order Software and he, himself had also secretly been responsible for a series of murders and unsolved disappearances.

Ben managed to keep his homicidal tendencies in check, so no one, not even his own parents suspected the darkness that resided in him. They had suspicions that he was holding some dark secrets, but they never knew he was the kind of man who would attempt to murder another person. That is, not until a fateful evening at the Solo household.

Han and Leia always hosted a family dinner every Sunday at their home. Ben was in attendance for the first time in years, which made his parents tentatively happy. After everyone had eaten, Han took his son to the side with intentions to speak to him about the rumors that surfaced about the unethical business practices of First Order Software. 

Ben was known to be ruthless when it came to his company, but the rumors were concerning and Han thought his son could use a little fatherly guidance. Unfortunately, Ben responded violently. They ended up getting into a very loud argument with the young man actually pulling a knife out to stab his father.

Luckily, his godfather Charles, an off-duty policeman, had seen it and fired a shot from his revolver into Ben's side. The wound hadn’t been fatal and he managed to take off before anyone could catch him. He drove away in his car, but had an accident on the highway ten minutes later. An eighteen wheeler hit him head-on and he died on impact.

Rey attended the funeral, but only to support his parents. She knew Leia because her lawyer's office was across the street from the foster home where Rey lived. Oftentimes, Leia would bring Rey meals or invite her to the house so she wouldn’t have to be alone. Rey got along well with the Solos, but their son was a different story.

At fourteen, she was younger than the usual hire, but Rey managed to get a job as a cleaning woman for First Order Software. Due to the size of the building, there were a dozen cleaning women and a few men, but Rey was the lucky one who cleaned the top floor. Not so lucky though because it was the same floor where Ben's office was located.

Whenever she had to clean his office - she always saved it for last because his room seemed so dark and foreboding - he was _always_ there. On more than one occasion, he’d have her sit down and ask her about her life. As much as she wanted to tell him to leave her be, he was her boss, so she forced herself to make light conversation with him.

She usually just told him little things about living in a foster home, but he liked to change the topic to another subject entirely: her relationship with his parents. Rey sensed from his attitude that Ben was jealous of Han and Leia's affection for her. He did his damndest to manipulate her into thinking that his parents never cared and that they only spent time with her because it made them look like upstanding citizens of the community.

Rey never believed him, but his words did wound her and caused her to struggle with self-doubt. Years ago, she’d been left at the foster home and no one came back for her. She had hoped her parents would return, but after eight years of being separated from them, she knew that was just wishful thinking.

The good thing was she _did_ have people in her life who cared. Han and Leia were very important to her. They were her like parents to her an were also dear friends. Then there was Finn.

Finn was another kid who wound up in foster care like she had. His parents died when he was small and he met Rey when they were both six years old. From the moment they were introduced, they had been inseparable. Rey couldn’t count all the nights she stayed up in her little room, talking to Finn.

He was her first kiss, her first love and as far as she was concerned, her one and only. He was the rock she leaned against when she felt helpless, the person she knew she could tell anything and he'd love and support her just as fervently as ever. He’d also tell her when she was wrong or being bossy, which she appreciated. In return, she inspired him when he was feeling down and she made sure he knew when it was time to relax and have fun. They complemented each other's personalities well.

Last week, Finn turned eighteen and was considered an adult, no longer a ward in need of a guardian. He moved out of the foster home and lived in an apartment building close by.

Rey's birthday was next month and in a little more than three weeks, so when _she_ was released from the foster home, she'd move in with Finn and they’d be roommates. They had talked this over at the beginning of the year and their plan hadn’t changed.

Back when Finn was fifteen, he knew he needed to start working to save enough money for a deposit on an apartment and get some furnishings. He had a lot of temp jobs before finally getting a good, steady job as a courier for Skywalker Courier Service. Interestingly, the owner of the business was Luke Skywalker, who was Leia Organa-Solo's twin brother.

Luke was kind man in his early fifties who had become friends to Finn and frequently checked up on him at his apartment to make sure he was doing okay. He had also grown close to Rey since she visited Finn at his place of work. She had a talent for working with computers systems, so every once in a while, Luke would hire her freelance to fix the company desktops and his laptop. It was a lot cheaper than getting a professional to do it and Rey was much more efficient at her work.

Rey found it easy to confide in the man and when she'd admitted that she hated her job at First Order Software, Luke encouraged her to quit and come work for him. He didn’t need any more couriers, but she could work for him as a receptionist and she could continue to help with the computers whenever they crashed updated their systems. Rey had emphatically said yes to his proposal.

Finn was currently saving up for a vehicle and his apartment was twenty blocks away, so it was too far for he or Rey to walk to work, but Luke allowed him to use his older truck until he was able to buy a car. The man had taken a liking to them both, so he helped them whenever he could.

Rey and Finn shared a tenacity and strength of spirit that was easy for Luke  to relate to. 

Finn was the kind of person who was loyal and dependable. When he set his mind on something, he’d stick with it until it was accomplished. He always showed up to work on time and he wasn’t afraid to ask questions or make sure he knew exactly what he needed to do.

Rey had an independent spirit, but she knew how to be flexible and lean on others for support. Oftentimes, she'd offer to help without having to be asked. She had a tendency to take the initiative in life.

If the business was going slow, she and Luke would engage in pleasant conversation or delve into deeper topics. She told him how hurt she'd been, knowing her parents didn’t want her. She knew her worth, of course, and she didn’t allow the rejection to cause her to break down, but being abandoned wasn’t easy to recover from.

It was amazing how identical Luke's own past pain was to Rey's because he and his sister had been left behind as babies. Their mother died in childbirth and their father ran out on them, claiming that he couldn’t bear to raise the two babies who had taken his wife from him.

Luke and Leia struggled for years with hating their biological father even though they’d never met him. Yes, tragedies did happen, but it was unfair to blame a death on two innocent newborns. Unfortunately, when people were stricken with grief, they lashed out and made bad choices that affected others.

Their father, Anakin Skywalker, never searched for his son and daughter. When they were adults, they came looking for him, but he refused to let them into his home. They never contacted him after that. Two years later, they found out that he died in a house fire. Their family history was sad, but Luke and Leia were determined not to follow their father's footsteps.

Leia became a civil lawyer who would frequently take cases even when the client couldn’t pay his or her fees. She had a strong sense of justice and possessed a heart for helping people, so she never turned down anyone who came to her office.

As for Luke, he inherited a courier business from his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru after they retired. He changed the name of the store to his last name - Skywalker was catchy no matter what business it was attached to. He also had several employees who were good, honest people he could depend on to help with some aspects of the business that confused him. A married couple around his age, Cassian and Jyn Andor, had been at the store for over twenty years, so they gave him a hand whenever they could.

He didn't think he'd like the place when he first started, but as time passed, he enjoyed running Skywalker Courier Service. The neighborhood was full of people from all walks of life and many of them were his customers. Sure, there were slow days, but the shop consistently did well financially.

Many times, Luke thought about Rey and how she carried a little pain in her heart because of her abandonment. His nephew, Ben, had really pushed the knife in deeper when he harassed her and it was a blessing that she only worked at his company for half a year before she quit. She’d worked at Skywalker Courier Service for three years now, so quite a bit of time had passed since she’d been subject to the mercy of Ben.

Rey started seeing a therapist after she quit First Order Software and the progress she’d made was astounding. She had strong paternal and maternal influence in her life thanks to Leia and Han, which helped a lot.

Luke was glad she had them, but he also believed she had latched on to him because she trusted him and knew that any friendship with him was bound to be a healthy one. He'd begun to feel fatherly affection towards her in the process.

On more than one occasion, Rey would ask Luke's advice about certain decisions she could have made on her own. She would also give him hugs every morning when she first saw him at work and later when the shop was closing and she and Finn were heading out for the night.

Slowly, Luke began to understand that she valued his input and saw him as a father figure in her life. She once said that she related to him much more than she did his sister and brother-in-law, so she felt safe around him. It was not until much later when he decided to start making plans...

* * *

It rained as the young couple made their way back to the truck. Rey hopped in the passenger's side next to Finn, humming a soft melody as they pulled out of the funeral parking lot. She could feel him glancing at her every so often out of the corner of her eye.

"Finn, I'm _fine_."

They reached a stop light and he turned his attention to her completely. "Are you sure? I know we haven’t talked about...Ben in a while, but if you need to vent or anything-“

She stopped him, pressing her forefinger to his mouth. Then she reached over to grasp his hand and gently brushed her lips to it. This was a gesture she always made to calm Finn when he was nervous or worried about something. It always eased the tension in those moments when he looked down at her with those beautiful brown eyes of his.

A little sigh left him when her lips touched his skin and she kept a firm hold on his hand. "I’m alright. Honestly. I won’t let him haunt me, peanut. That’s a promise."

Finn smiled at her. "I’m glad to hear that. You know I don’t mean to be a nag. I just want you to be happy."

"I know and I appreciate it. You’re a wonderful boyfriend, Finn. I love you." 

"And I love you," he replied. With a quick glance at the light to see if it was still red - it was - he moved his other hand to the side of her face and gave her a soft kiss.

Rey cooed and pressed her lips against his, showing him all the affection she had in her heart for him. Unfortunately, their kiss was short-lived as the car behind them honked loudly. The stoplight was now green. They pulled away, giggling and Finn hit the gas. He had his left hand on the steering wheel, but his other was clasped to Rey's.

He stroked her hand with his thumb. "What do you think Luke wants to talk to you about?"

"I have no idea. I don’t think it’s about Ben because he hardly mentioned him before, but whatever it is, I'm sure it must be something personal since he told us to come by the house."

"I guess so."

In a few minutes they had arrived at Luke's home and were sitting in his dining room, waiting for him to bring the tea he'd just finished brewing. Rey looked down the hall to the kitchen where he stood, pouring the brown liquid into teacups.

"Are you sure you don’t need help?"

Luke called back with a bemused reply. "Rey, I'm fifty-three years old. I’m not at death's door yet, so I think I can bring a tray to the dining room without falling over and breaking a hip."

She held her hands up as the older man walked into the room with said tray and sent her a mock glare. "Please forgive me for making such a grievous error, Master Skywalker."

"How many times have I told you not to call me that?"

Beaming, Rey said, "I’ve lost count."

"One of these days, I'm gonna fire you for being so insubordinate." This was normal bantering for them. Rey and Luke got along wonderfully well and they enjoyed a good ribbing whenever they were in each other's orbit.

"You know the day you fire Rey is the day Leia will sue you for wrongful termination of employment." Finn accepted his cup of tea from Luke and dropped three cubes of sugar in it.

Rey poured a little milk in her tea and stirred it with a spoon. "That’s true. You may be her brother, but she loves me more."

"Oh! You got me! Right **there**!" Luke feigned a painful expression, pointed to his heart and leaned over in his chair as if he might fall.

The young couple rolled their eyes good-naturedly.   
  
"On a more serious note," Finn began, "What’d you ask us here for, Luke? Do you have an aunt who died and left you a million dollars or something?"

"No. This is better news than inheriting a lot of money." Luke looked thoughtful as he sipped his tea. He waited a few moments before continuing. "As you both know, I’m a widower. My dear wife, Mara Jade, died years ago. We were together for many wonderful years, but we never had any children."

Rey couldn’t help the sadness that she felt when Luke mentioned his wife. From all of his stories about her, she seemed like an amazing woman who she would’ve loved to meet. If only she hadn’t lost her battle with cancer, she would be here right now, sipping tea with them. It was cruel how unfair life could be.

"Before she died, she told me to consider adopting a child. She was the oldest of eight siblings, so she was partial to children. She loved how their minds worked and how innocent they were. The way their bright and untainted perception colored everything they said, every decision they made."

"I listened to her pleas to not give up hope of having a child even if it weren’t our own, but I was bitter and upset because I knew she was dying. I thought it would be a waste to have a child in our home that was not of our own blood, the Skywalker blood. I never said this to her because it would only cause her pain and at that point, she had been in enough pain to last a lifetime."

Luke's voice began to shake, so on instinct, Finn and Rey each took hold of his hands and held on, encouraging him to continue. He never went into this much detail about Mara Jade‘s death and they knew there was an important reason for it so they nodded for him to continue.

He took a deep breath and started to speak again. "For a long time I never thought that I could meet a child of any age who I could truly love enough to bring into my home. I was stubborn and bullheaded and even though Han and Leia tried to convince me to see the error of my ways, I didn’t listen. I believed that I would live the rest of my days alone, that this house would be devoid of laughter and joy and I had made my peace with it...then I met you."

At this, Luke looked at Rey and she blinked in surprise. "Me?"

"Yes, you. Well, both of you made an impact on my life these past few years, but Rey, _you_ especially touched my heart. You gradually became an important part of my life. I found myself proud as I watched you make important decisions that would affect your own. You even allowed me to be included in those decisions and it has meant more to me than you know."

Luke picked up a folder that was on the table and opened it. He took out a few papers and handed them to Rey.

"What is this?" She looked at the papers curiously.

"Read them," he encouraged her.

Intrigued, Rey read the papers carefully and once she realized just what they were, she gasped. Her eyes grew wide as she slowly moved her gaze up from the paper to look at Luke. Her fingers shook and tears began to form in her eyes.

Finn furrowed his brow and gently took the papers from Rey’s hands. As he read, his eyes widened as well. "You...you want to adopt Rey?"

"Yes." Luke was focused on the young woman as he answered the question.

"But Rey will be eighteen in a couple of weeks. You can still adopt someone when they're that old?"

"You can. Up to age twenty-one as a matter of fact. I asked Leia to help me with the paperwork because she’s had experience with a few adoption cases before and I’m terrible when it comes to legal jargon. This is all on the up and up."

Finn was in shock, but a pleasant shock. Luke must have been planning to do this for a long time and Leia was in on it too? That meant Han had to know as well. He smiled and understood why Luke asked both he and Rey to come to his home for this occasion. 

The older man knew how much Rey loved Finn and he cared for him as well. The three of them spent countless hours together in this house and at the courier store. It wouldn’t have felt right to show Rey the adoption papers without Finn being present and he appreciated the gesture.

Luke took Rey's hands in his and gave them a little squeeze. "Rey, I want to formally adopt you and give you my last name. I know you’re about to age out of the system, but I truly believe that you were the child my wife wanted me to find. Although, it was more like the other way around. Do you think you'd like to be a Skywalker?"

Rey's lips trembled and she let out a joyful cry, throwing herself into Luke's arms. "Yes! Yes, yes, _yes_! I'd _love_ to be your daughter!" Her face was wet with tears and so was Luke and Finn's. For the first time in her life, someone wanted Rey enough to be their child. Luke wanted her to take his last name and be his family. 

Just like that, the little pain Rey carried in her heart because of her abandonment ebbed away into nothingness. All she could do was smile, for her prayers had finally been answered. She knew this was a moment she would never forget as long as she lived. The belonging that she had sought for so long was not behind her. It was _ahead_.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm [reys.finn](https://instagram.com/reys.finn?igshid=9k4looh60v82) on Instagram. Drop by and say hello!


End file.
